


The Yellow Man

by Aladayle



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, The King in Yellow - Robert W. Chambers
Genre: Creepy Pennywise (IT), Georgie Lives, Hastur - Freeform, No One Ever Answered The Writing Prompt So I Have To Do This Myself, Other, the king in yellow - Freeform, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25397137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aladayle/pseuds/Aladayle
Summary: A little boy plays in the street, and speaks to a stranger. Mysterious, but not mean. At least, not to him.
Kudos: 14





	The Yellow Man

**Author's Note:**

> Random one shot. I want my brain back so I'm putting this down "on paper" so I can get work done.

Georgie ran, and the rain went with him. 

It seemed to follow him, running in the same direction along the curbs, almost following the boat with the same joy that he felt. He had a boat, and it was sailing. 

But he was not a sailor, no. He imagined sailors on his little boat, wondering who this large yellow thing following them was. Maybe a sea monster, coming to eat them--he made a little roar at the idea, and raised his hands, pretending he was a big octopus or a kraken or something, and made swipes at it. 

That was fun. 

"Child, stop." 

Georgie stopped--not really knowing why. His boat came to a rest against a pile of leaves on the curb, and the strange leaned over to grab it. 

They were in a yellow raincoat too--like his, only bigger, and this one was so long it touched the ground like his mother's dress that she wore for special occasions. 

He walked over, eyeing the stranger warily. They felt cold and different, and didn't look like any of the neighbors. Maybe he was driving through and decided he wanted to go for a walk. 

"Thank you. My brother worked very hard to help me make that." 

"You're welcome," the stranger replied. 

The stranger then looked up at the other side of the street, and then down the side they were on. 

"Are you waiting for somebody?" Georgie asked. 

"I am looking for someone," the stranger acknowledged, giving a nod of the head. Then added, "Someone bad." 

"Oh. Like Henry Bowers?" 

His mother told him to stay away from Henry. He was a bad boy who hurt people, and he could get beaten up. 

The stranger seemed close to laughing, but then stopped. "Much worse. I am looking for a bad man that eats children." 

"There's nobody like that here." 

"Yes, there is," the stranger replied, gesturing down the sidewalk. "I am going to use your boat to catch him." 

"Then can I have it back?" 

Georgie gave a smile at the idea. He had been pretending to be a monster, and now he could see one before the stranger caught it. Bill was going to love hearing about this! 

"Yes. When he comes out, I will give it back. If I catch him, I will improve it for you." 

"Okay!" Georgie grinned. Maybe the stranger in the yellow raincoat would do what Bill did, only make it better. If that was possible. Bill had done it really well. 

The stranger leaned down, putting the paper boat in the water on the other side of the leaves. Then, with Georgie, he chased it down the street. The boy laughed--but the stranger did not. 

Then the drain approached, swallowing the boat before Georgie could get his hands on it. He moved to go for it, but the stranger put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. Then raised a finger to their lips. 

He blinked. 

That's all he did. 

But when he looked again, the stranger in the yellow raincoat was kneeling in the gutter--and he looked a lot smaller, too! 

"Hi there, kiddo," a friendly voice seemed to say from the drain, "Is this your boat?" 

"Yes," the stranger said, "Let me have it back." 

"Here, then. Reach for it." 

The stranger reached, and Georgie got a look at his arm and hand. Long, and kind of skinny. A claw hand, he decided, a claw hand to grab the bad man that ate children. He waited... 

There was a screech then, and he stumbled back, falling on his butt as he tried to cover his ears. Whether it was the stranger in the yellow raincoat, or the bad man inside the drain, he didn't know. All he knew was that the sound was loud, and horrible, and full of words he didn't understand. Full of words that didn't even sound like words--they sounded more like the noises the animals on TV made than WORDS, or like a hundred other heads inside his head all whispering mean things. 

The stranger in the yellow raincoat was pulling someone out of the drain, and at first he couldn't tell who, or what. The bad man. It had to be the bad man that ate children. As the stranger grabbed and pulled, the bad man twisted, revealing--a clown! At least he thought so, at first. He had the funny outfit with pom poms on the front and bright colors, but his face--his face! 

He screamed at the sight of it. There was a mouth but it was open too much. Too high. There were teeth everywhere, too, like a shark monster. The yellow raincoat opened, and out came--out came black things, like an octopus's arms. They wound tight around the clown, and pulled him in...in...inside _where_? 

The fear of seeing and the fear of hearing battled, and finally the former won out. Georgie covered his eyes, sniffling and almost crying, and the whispering in his head went on. 

And then just...stopped. 

"Child," the voice said suddenly, "It is gone." 

Shaking, Georgie looked up. The clown was gone, and the raincoat didn't have a big bump in it or anything. 

"Where did it go?" 

"Away," the stranger said. There was a pause, and then, "I made a promise to you, child. Now, here you go." 

The paper boat was handed back to him, and when his hands touched it he immediately felt better. Everything was okay. The stranger in the yellow raincoat had made the thing in the drain go away. Maybe even killed it. If the nature shows on TV taught him anything, it was that nothing that made that much of a fuss before going quiet was still alive. 

The bad man was gone. 

"What will you do to it?" he asked, looking over it. There was nothing different looking about it, besides a little mark on the side. 

"I already did it. It will never sink," the stranger replied, "It will not get...soggy, either." 

"Thank you, mister." 

"You're welcome, child." 

* * *

Georgie played with the boat for a little bit longer, and discovered that it did exactly what the stranger said it would. A couple times he dropped it in a big puddle on its side, but it didn't feel wet when he picked it up. 

Wow. 

The only thing that stood out was the mark on the side. It was yellow, and looked sort of like a question mark with a curly thing poking through the dot at the bottom. 

Bill called it a yellow mark. 

Georgie called it a sign. 

But either way, the memory of it would remain long after he grew too old for paper boats.


End file.
